Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. One early Saturday morning, Ian Grady was cited by a county police officer for violating Athens-Clarke County Ordinance § 3-5-24(c)(2)(a), which prohibits noise from “mechanical sound-making devices” or from a party that is “plainly audible” 100 feet away from a person’s property limits between midnight and 7:00 [...]

This case requires us to resolve an interesting and surprisingly unanswered question of First Amendment law: whether the constitutionality of a zoning ordinance should only be evaluated with regard to the “alternative avenues of communication” it leaves open at the time it is passed, or also those it leaves open at the time it is [...]

A little over a week ago, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued this (majority) opinion. A divided court (2-1) affirmed that Erie Township did not violate the rights of Alcatraz Industries, Inc. by adopting an ordinance restricting adult entertainment establishments to C-2 zoning districts. Among other restrictions, the ordinance requires an adult business to obtain a [...]

The central issue in this appeal concerns the constitutionality of a zoning ordinance adopted by the Township of Cinnaminson that restricts the location where commercial establishments that sell adult videos and novelty items can operate. The trial court rejected defendants’ constitutional challenge, finding that the ordinance constituted a reasonable time, place, and manner restriction, was [...]

The City of Warren (a suburb of Detroit) has bought an adult bookstore: The city of Warren has been known to purchase private businesses to aid long-term development goals. But city officials broke new ground with their recent purchase of an adult bookstore. The rare move has given the city ownership of Book World, the [...]

“Fairview council votes to ban adult businesses despite attorney’s advice that the ordinance would be unconstitutional,” reports the Belleville-News Democrat here. It seems that the original, proposed ordinance had provided that only two businesses could open in the city. The City Council then voted 8-1 to change the number to zero. Not exactly legal. I [...]

Two federal, appellate opinions concerning adult entertainment were issued this week. From the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, there is Forty One News, Inc. v. County of Lake. Long story short: 41 News, an adult book and video store, sued the county under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, challenging the county’s adult use ordinance on federal [...]

“Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson on Monday proposed the creation of an adult-entertainment district in the Flats to house up to three strip clubs, possibly including Larry Flynt‘s Hustler Club,” reports The Plain Dealer here. The district would help the adult businesses. For example: Currently, city law requires strip clubs to be no closer than 1,000 [...]

The Washington Times reports here: “A D.C. Council member’s proposal to allow strip clubs to relocate along the New York Avenue corridor in Northeast has angered residents and businesses who have long been promised redevelopment on the blighted gateway.” Can you say, NIMBY? According to the article, “[t]he bill paves the way for the clubs [...]